


be my homeward dove

by xigithy



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, we'll call this mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-11-02 08:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xigithy/pseuds/xigithy
Summary: It's been ten long years in the Realm of Darkness, and Aqua is tired.





	be my homeward dove

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for terraqua week 2019 on twitter!
> 
> Day 4: dance

It feels like Aqua’s been walking for an eternity. That’s all there is to do here, in this damned place- walk, and walk, and walk, and wait and hope. Hope with all her heart that the Realm of Light is still shining as radiantly as it had the last time she had been bathed in its glow. Hope that those two small boys she had met on the Islands- now nearly as old as she had been when she had been trapped here- were fighting to protect the light as fiercely as only keyblade wielders could. Hope… that someone was still out there looking for a way to save her.

She’s not sure how long it’s been since her chance meeting with Mickey. Her heart tells her it can’t have been that long, but time is tricky in the Realm of Darkness. And hearts… well, she knows better than most how hearts can lead you astray once they’ve weakened; how they falter and spin lies, feed you fragmented untruths, twisted and gnarled hopes snatched from the deepest depths of your soul. Ever since she was left behind, alone  _ again _ in the vast darkness, it seemed that all her heart had done was whisper venom to her.

_ No one can save you…… _

_ You’ll never see the realm of light again…  _

_ Just let go of everything and fade into the darkness. _

Aqua is ashamed to admit that the weakness in her heart has such a chokehold on her, but it feels like there is very little light left in her- and with each endless mile that she walks, cold and alone, it seems a little more of her brilliance is extinguished. She wonders… if there’s even any point now in going on. She’d promised Ven she’d be there to wake him but- as Mickey had told her- the points were one could cross to and from the Realm of Darkness had become unstable with the falling of the worlds, and those passages that remained were closed to those with hearts of light. From her conversation with the King, it seemed her allies in the Realm of Light were no closer to finding a way to rescue her and her friends as they had been ten years ago- when everything had fallen apart in the first place. Ven would be safe where she had hidden him, but… how much longer would he need to wait for her? Another year? Five? Ten?

And then there was Terra, who, according to Mickey, was still missing entirely. When she’d seen him- or, her heart’s projection of him- Terra had told her his heart had ties to the dark, and that Xehanort was a part of him now. If that was indeed the case, then there was no telling if she’d ever be able to find him on her own.

Reaching into her back pocket, Aqua pulls out her Wayfinder and holds it to the light, touching her free hand lightly to her chest as she peers through the blue glass. How had she managed to fail her friends so spectacularly? She’d promised them- she’d promised their  _ Master- _ that she’d do everything in her power to bring them home safely; and what had come of that? Ven, alone in an eternal slumber; Terra, lost to the darkness in his own heart; and her, powerless to save herself, much less the ones that she loves.

She sinks to her knees, hand still clasped against her heart, and breathes a weary sigh. She’s so  _ tired _ , and she’s been strong for so long. Aqua’s had the weight of the world on her shoulders longer than any one person should have to carry the burden, but she never minded- not when it meant keeping her friends safe. But now? Well, things really were starting to feel hopeless, weren’t they?

“Ven. Terra… I’m sorry.”

Aqua hangs her head- shame and exhaustion beginning to swallow her. She could lie here, let sleep take her in its arms and hold her for as long as it deems fit. Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. 

“Aqua?”

A voice sounds out in the darkness and, from the moment it hits Aqua’s ears, there’s an inexplicable sensation of warmth that stirs in her core and spreads throughout her. Her eyes snap open and her breath seems to catch in her throat at the sight of Terra standing only a few feet away from where she’s kneeling. She clambers to her feet, an honest-to-god chuckle escaping her, and closes the short distance between them.

“ _ Terra _ .”

“ _ Aqua _ , I- are you here?” Terra’s voice is soft, yet  _ tired _ as he looks around for her blindly, and the distant, sleepy tone of it reminds her vaguely of early mornings back home- when the two would meet for sparring on the still dewy training grounds, and how he would talk to Aqua to keep her from falling back asleep as they waited for their Master to appear.

“Yes.” Aqua reaches a trembling hand out for Terra’s, noticing the visible relaxation in his shoulders as she answers him. She hesitates, inches from his hand, almost too scared to confirm what she already knows in her gut. That this Terra was a phantom- a projection of her heart. He was here, for all intents and purposes, but she knows that ultimately there was no way he could be actually tangible. Swallowing thickly, Aqua pulls her hand back to her chest and clasps it within her other one. “How did you find me?”

“I could hear you calling to me in the dark; all I had to do was follow your light.”

There’s a beat of silence between them as the gravity of Terra’s admission begins to settle on her shoulders. Her light. Tears begin to well in her eyes and she can’t help but smile sadly to herself, somewhat grateful in this moment for Terra’s apparent inability to see in the Realm of Darkness. “...I don’t know that there’s much light left to follow, Terra. I can-  _ feel _ it....”

_ I can feel it  _ ** _dying_ ** , she wants to choke out.  _ Every passing second here is an eternity, and with every moment I spend alone with my thoughts I can feel myself giving in to the weakness in my heart _ . 

But she doesn’t. She knows Terra has it just as hard as she does, and the last thing she wants to do with their short time together is burden him with her own internal crisis and wavering strength. So instead, she forces a thin smile- a practiced, performative act, more for her own benefit than Terra’s- and sniffles pathetically. “I’m just getting tired, is all.” 

In the peripherals of her vision, she can just catch Terra flexing his fingers out, as if he means to reach for her. But as his brow furrows, concern and what she recognizes as a distant sort of frustration being cast onto his face, Terra balls his hand into a fist. She can tell he doesn’t believe her, not fully, but Terra knows Aqua well enough to realize that whatever she’s avoiding telling him is something he’s not likely to coerce out of her. 

“The light in your heart is too strong to be extinguished,” he finally says with a nod. And the statement is delivered so sincerely, and with so much conviction, that Aqua almost believes him. 

“I- Will you stay with me?” The question is asked before she even realizes it’s formed on her tongue, and she claps a hand to her mouth as the request leaves her, cheeks reddening from embarrassment at the outburst. 

“Wh-” Terra’s eyebrows shoot up and, for a fraction of a second, the serious demeanor he’d been carrying upon his shoulders melts away to reveal the Terra that only she and Ven know; the Terra unburdened by a heart seeped in darkness and the threat of a coming Keyblade War- the Terra who once stayed out all night watching the stars as the three of them vowed to be bound forever by their unbreakable connection. He scratches the back of his head, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know how long we have until-“

“Mmm. Can you just… stay with me for a while? Please?” 

Aqua is acutely aware of the dangers that now shadow Terra’s company, the looming peril of Master Xehanort’s return- but she wants nothing more in this moment than to spend time with someone she cares about. If she has to walk a tightrope suspended over a chasm of peril just for another  _ minute _ with Terra, then that’s what she’ll do. 

There’s a tense pause between them as Terra agrees to stay with a single nod, neither of them wanting to be the first to make the move, but Aqua knows they only have so much time- and she’s not willing to let him slip through her fingers yet again. Swallowing her fears and steeling herself, Aqua finally,  _ finally _ reaches for Terra. The tips of her fingers brush his arm and her heart almost stops at the contact. 

_ He’s really here _ . 

And that’s all it takes for the chains of Aqua’s inhibitions to break; with a gentle gasp, she throws her arms around Terra’s midsection, pulling him as close to her as humanly possible. He stiffens for only half a second, startled at the touch that seems to have come out of nowhere, but quickly follows suit, wrapping his strong arms around Aqua and hugging her tightly with a kiss to the top of her head.

The tears begin to spill from her eyes before Aqua can stop them, but for the first time in as long as she can remember, she doesn’t want to. For the first time in ten years, she doesn’t care about being strong for the sake of it, for putting on the brave face of a Keyblade Master- for the first time in  _ ten years _ , Aqua cares only about what makes  _ her _ happy and right now, it’s Terra.

They stand there silently in each other’s arms longer than she expects, and yet when Terra finally loosens his hold on her, drawing back only slightly, Aqua feels her face fall with disappointment. 

“...do you remember the ball? At the Castle?” 

Aqua looks up quizzically at Terra as he questions her, and it takes her a moment to recall the event he’s referencing. She hadn’t made it to the ball herself; only come at the tail end of it to check on her new friend and continue her search for Ven. But… she had run into Terra there, and though their conversation had been brief, it had been one that she clung to for most of her time here.  _ A powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the darkness. _

Nodding once, she smiles. “Why do you ask?”

“When I was there, watching Cinderella dance with the Prince, there was so much going through my mind. I was still sore from failing my Mark of Mastery, the Unversed were flooding the worlds, and Master Xehanort was nowhere to be found.” Terra laughs softly- almost  _ bashful- _ and in the darkness, Aqua can just make out the faint reddening of the apples of his cheeks. “And the whole time. There was only one thing I really wanted.”

Aqua’s breath catches in her throat, the inevitable question dancing from her before she has a chance to stop it. “...what was it you wanted?”

“You.” 

With a hum, Terra moves his right hand to Aqua’s waist, taking her hand in his free one. Aqua blinks up at him, her cheeks flushing as he bows his head slightly. Her response is automatic: straightening her back, she sets her left hand atop his shoulder and laces her fingers in his. It’s been forever since they’ve danced- the last time they had attempted it, they had both been children, and Aqua had abandoned the venture of trying to teach him to dance after one too many instances of Terra stepping on her toes.

“I wanted you to be there...so I could ask you to dance with me.”

“Terra, you’re a  _ terrible _ dancer. You’ve always been a terrible dancer.” She wrinkles her nose, a playful teasing dancing in the tone of her chiding, and Terra laughs, nodding- a reluctant agreement. 

“I  _ know _ , but… you made me want to be better. You always make me want to be better. At everything.”

Without another word, he begins to lead her, careful step after step, until the two are swaying gracefully to the ambient sounds of the darkness. She can feel the tension in his shoulders as he moves, and the anxiety radiating off his fear of stepping on her toes is palpable. But with each gentle movement of their bodies, every deliberate step in time with silent music, it becomes increasingly obvious that there’s a grace to Terra now that hadn’t been present when she’d tried to teach him to dance in their youth.

Their dance feels like a careful confession of their feelings, each footstep a gentle kiss upon the earth, and as Terra breaks away to twirl Aqua once around, she can feel the intensity of his eyes upon her. She steps back against him and for several beats the two only stare into each other’s eyes, frozen in their dancers’ pose. Finally, Terra untangles himself from her grasp, cupping Aqua’s face delicately in his hands, and frowns. 

“Aqua… I l-”

“ _ Shhh _ ,” Aqua cuts off his confession with a single finger pressed to his soft lips; a melancholy smile twisting into her expression as she shakes her head ‘no’. “I know. You can tell me when we’re both home, okay?”

_ That _ would be her light in the darkness. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write this fic for AGES already, but terraqua week came along and gave me the kick in the butt I needed to sit down and actually write it. 
> 
> This fic was inspired and heavily influenced by the Civil Wars' cover of "Dance me to the end of love", which I _highly_ recommend listening to.
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3


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